First thoughts of the t3i, are outstanding and definitely worth the upgrade. When I first heard of the t3i, I kind of thought it really wasnt much of an upgrade. But after having bought one and used it in a real shooting situation, I'm estatic. Here is my list of features that I have ranked in order of importance!

The single most important thing first off is the improvement of no overheating. I used it for an 1.45 hours the other day and it worked flawlessly. I also know that Taky said he used his for a 14 hour shoot and he has no signs of overheating. I think this was a problem that did not effect me as much back in the winter when I got my t2i, but it started to be a real problem now that the summer is here. Sometimes I was getting it after only 15 and 20 minutes of shooting! So for me this feature was the best overall improvement.

Secondly, and this has been touched over in several threads is the digital zoom feature. I think this is great for two different reasons. Not only does this save you money from not having to buy a telephoto lens, but it also makes you more effecient as now your camera is more versitile. If I need to go wide to 17mm I can and with about 4 pushes of a button I can be zoomed in too 200mm, with a 18-55mm kit lens. I'm about to buy a tamron 17-55mm f2.8, So the extra focal lenth and lower aperature will help with low light situations!

Next is the articulating screen. This is a feature that I feel like you have to use the t2i for a while to fully appreciate it. It just really comes in handy if your trying to frame yourself or when you have to put the camera up high on a tripod. Or if your trying to get an overhead shot in a crowded place. I also use the camera on my indislider and getting the low angle shots will be a little easier to get now that I have this.

Last, is the Manual audio control. Of course I was a magic lantern user and I could disable it that way, but its always nice to be able to have it come with it already installed. It really sounds alot better than having AGC on. The only negative is you cannot adjust it while recording and the levels don't appear on the screen to show you if your clipping or not! Maybe canon can add that in firmware update!

So my final thought is that it is exactly what I need right now for the things I do. I like fact that it takes the same batteries as the t2i too. Over the course of the next 2 months I plan to replace my other 2 t2i's with them as well. As far as Magic Lantern goes, I truly do love the thing, but I have had a few bugs while using it. Sometimes it just hangs up, or sometimes you have to press the trash button a few times for the menu to come up, and it also drains your batteries quicker too! But as I move away from it I will miss the q-scale changing. I used this many times to get alot video on cards in spots where the quality loss didnt matter. I also like the kelvin temperature white balance and the custom iso settings. If it is one thing I wish the t3i had would be at least 2-3 more ISO settings! But none the less I will keep a couple of cards with ML on it just in case I need it.

Thanks for reading, I know its kinda long but I know there are alot of people that are interested in upgrading but don't think its worth it. I definitely think its worth it for what I do and where I live (Hot Texas)!!!

I just traded up my T2i for the T3i yesterday after reading threads here. My first concern, like yours, was overheating. My camera overheated on a recent shoot and that bothered me. The audio levels was a huge bonus. Finally, the one thing I really miss about my old point and shoot was the swivle screen. It may sound strange but I loved that thing for shooting self portraits but I saw a video recently of the T3i where the guy was showing how it is great for low and high shots as well as to frame up shots where you can actually see what you are framing with yourself in the shot, etc.

I would suggest, though, checking out the Sigma 18-50mm 2.8. It is a little bit pricier then the Tameron but has OS and gets better reviews, some saying it is just as good as the very pricey Canon 2.8. I picked one up, came with a hood and a carry case plus 10 year warranty.

I bought the Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 with my camera & returned it after two days for a number of reasons. The zoom & focus rings turn the wrong way (very confusing as I also have a 5DII & all my other lenses come from Canon). The IS is really noisy & constantly chattering away even when the camera isn't moving. The autofocus is slow & needs to be switched off before you can manually focus smoothly & easily (if you don't switch to MF you are fighting the AF motor). I paid the extra & replaced the Tamron with the Canon 17-55mm F/2.8 which is an exceptional lens that of course doesn't suffer from all the faults of the Tamron. I would be kicking myself every time I used the Tamron if I had kept it.

I agree that the key features of the T3i/550D are the crop zoom, articulated screen & manual audio. I have never used a T2i/550D so maybe that model is the same but compared to the 5DII this one is much better set up ergonomically for video use whereas it's clearly an afterthought tagged on to the 5DII.

Yea the only thing Nigel is that I wont be using autofocus in any video applications, and thats 90% of my business. Also, I am not willing to spend $700 extra just to turn my lens the opposite direction. But I can understand someone that does want to spend that.

Keith, yes the Sigma turns the same way as the Canon (which was a plus).

It may cost you $100-150 more then the Tameron but I think the benefits outweigh the cons and, again, if you look at it in comparisons to the crazily overpriced Canon lens the Sigma lens is said to be sharper in the middle of the image and performs just as good in most cases and, in others, a notch below but not a notch enough to justify paying $600 more.

I paid $700 for the Sigma and you get a hood, carry case and that 10 year warranty (I realize now that this is in Canada, only...three years in the US).

My thought on T3i is that it is still a first gen DSLR video cam, essentially the same as T2i IQ wise. If I were upgrading from T2i, Panasonic GH2 seems to be much more compelling. It has better resolution and less noise in video and some killer features, like follow focus and touch screen focus.
Of course it cannot use Canon lenses easily, but for video quality and better features GH2 would more of an upgrade from T2i. The problem is finding one in store despite its being out for almost a year.

My thought on T3i is that it is still a first gen DSLR video cam, essentially the same as T2i IQ wise. If I were upgrading from T2i, Panasonic GH2 seems to be much more compelling. It has better resolution and less noise in video and some killer features, like follow focus and touch screen focus.
Of course it cannot use Canon lenses easily, but for video quality and better features GH2 would more of an upgrade from T2i. The problem is finding one in store despite its being out for almost a year.

I have a GH2 & it shoots lovely video. Unfortunately the ergonomics are horrible. I have been using a 5DII for over two years now & the GH2 feels like a little plastic toy. There are many quirks & the hassle of using is just not worth it to me. The T3i/600D is far better as a 2nd camera to my 5DII as it feels enough the same that I don't have to think to much about the controls plus it uses all my lovely Canon lenses (which the GH2 cannot).

Yea the only thing Nigel is that I wont be using autofocus in any video applications, and thats 90% of my business. Also, I am not willing to spend $700 extra just to turn my lens the opposite direction. But I can understand someone that does want to spend that.

Our style of shooting is to use the autofocus prior to almost every shot. It's very reassuring to half press the shutter to flip the mirror down have the camera nail focus & flip the mirror back up all in the blink of an eye before the start of recording when of course you need to manually focus but on the Tamron then need to slide the button on the lens to MF or you are fighting the AF motor.. You forgot about the noisy IS which will be picked up even with off camera sound. I'll be keeping the lens for years so the extra money spent is easily worth it to me.

Our style of shooting is to use the autofocus prior to almost every shot. It's very reassuring to half press the shutter to flip the mirror down have the camera nail focus & flip the mirror back up all in the blink of an eye before the start of recording when of course you need to manually focus but on the Tamron then need to slide the button on the lens to MF or you are fighting the AF motor.. You forgot about the noisy IS which will be picked up even with off camera sound. I'll be keeping the lens for years so the extra money spent is easily worth it to me.

Well that would be hard for me to shoot with autofocus before shots because I mainly shoot weddings and there are alot of moving parts. People walking down aisles then not knowing exactly where they will stand when they reach the alter, means autofocus is not really much of an option for us. But for those who need autofocus I can see why they would not want the tamron. Also, normally at weddings my zoom h4n captures sound from the soundboard as well as ambient noise with the onboard mics. So the noisy VC probably wont be much of a problem either.

Thanks for all the advice but for now I will choose the cheaper option as I just dropped $1,000 on a new t3i. If it seems too problematic for me, I will sale and go to a better option. But I have read hundreds of reviews of people who are pleased with the tamron, along with some that echo your same sentiments.